This work is designed as a contribution to the volume of information
from which the historian of the future will be able to prepare an
impartial and comprehensive narrative of the American Civil War, or to
speak more accurately—The American War of Secession.
No attempt has been made to present the causes which precipitated the
secession of the Cotton States, nor the states which subsequently
adopted the same policy, except Virginia. Even in regard to that
commonwealth the effort has been limited to the consideration of two
features prominent in the public mind as constituting the most potent
factors in determining her action—namely, devotion to slavery and
hostility to the Union. That the people of Virginia were moved to
secession by a selfish desire to extend or maintain the institution of
slavery, or from hostility to the Union, are propositions seemingly at
variance with their whole history and the interests which might
naturally have controlled them in the hour of separation. Yet how
widespread the impression and how frequent the suggestion from the pen
of historian and publicist that the great and compelling motives which
led Virginia to secede were a desire to extend slavery into the
territories and to safeguard the institution within her own borders,
coupled with a spirit of hostility to the Union and the ideals of
liberty proclaimed by its founders. To present the true attitude of the
dominant element of the Virginia people with respect to these subjects
is the work which the author has taken in hand.
As cognate to this purpose the effort has been made to show what was the
proximate cause which influenced the great body of the Virginia people
in the hour of final decision. There were unquestionably many and widely
severed causes—some remote in origin and some immediate to the hour,
yet it may be safely asserted that but for the adoption by the Federal
Government of the policy of coercion towards the Cotton States, Virginia
would not have seceded. That was the crucial and determining factor,
which impelled her secession. She denied the right of the Federal
Government to defeat by force of arms the aspiration of a people as
numerous and united as those of the Cotton States to achieve in peace
their independence. She believed that such a course and the exercise of
such a power on the part of the Federal Government, if not actually
beyond the scope of its powers as fixed in the constitution, were
clearly repugnant to the ideals of the Republic, and subversive of the
principles for which their Fathers had fought and won the battles of the
Revolution. Upon the question, shall the Cotton States be permitted to
withdraw in peace, or shall their aspirations be defeated by force of
arms, Virginia assumed no new position. She simply in the hour of danger
and sacrifice held faithful to the principles which she had ofttimes
declared and which have ever found sturdy defenders in every part of the
Republic.
In the preparation of this volume the author has been the grateful
recipient of the labors of many historians and publicists, accredited
citations from whose works will be found throughout its pages.
In addition, he desires to acknowledge his indebtedness to the following
gentlemen:
First and foremost, to Dr. Philip Alexander Bruce of Virginia, for his
generous sympathy and invaluable assistance, with respect to every
feature of the book; also to Edward M. Shepard, Esquire, and Reverend
Samuel H. Bishop of New York and to Colonel Archer Anderson and Henry W.
Anderson, Esquire, of Richmond, for their kindness in reading his
manuscript and making many helpful suggestions.
For none of the errors of the book, nor for any expression of opinion,
are these gentlemen responsible.
Thanks are due and tendered to Dr. Herbert Putnam, Librarian of
Congress, Dr. H. R. McIlwaine, State Librarian of Virginia, and Mr. W.
G. Stanard, Corresponding Secretary of the Virginia Historical Society,
and to their courteous assistants, for the generous use accorded the
author of the wealth of historical data in the custody of those
institutions.
In addition to the foregoing, acknowledgments are gratefully made to a
great company of librarians, lawyers, antiquarians, clerks of courts,
custodians of private manuscripts and others who have assisted the
author in collecting from widely separated sections of the Union the
mass of information from which he has drawn, in the preparation of this
work. In many instances, the facts so kindly furnished do not appear,
but have been of service to the author, in enabling him to form more
accurate conclusions. The willingness exhibited by citizens of states,
other than Virginia, to furnish information with respect to the subject
under consideration, is indicative of a growing desire throughout the
Union to know the facts and appreciate the viewpoint of our once
separated but now united people. If this book, in presenting the
attitude of Virginia, shall contribute to this result, it will afford
the author the sincerest gratification.